Team Values, Purpose and Norms
Foundational work to build an effective Community Independent movement
Working on the three key areas of team values, purpose and norms and documenting the shared ideas will result in the team developing a pledge to one another, and by default, with the wider electorate. This pledge will assist in identifying a suitable candidate and the supporting/ volunteering team, and contribute to the brand of the candidate.
Team Values
Agreeing on team values assists in building team trust and identity, and a stronger brand. It provides team members with guideposts for behaviour and guidance around decisions and action. Values help the team solve problems and stay on purpose.
For a team’s core values to really matter, it goes far beyond a simple list of guiding principles. The values need to authentically define how team members will (1) operate, (2) behave, and (3) interact on a day-to-day basis. They should be supported by mechanisms of accountability that are discussed and celebrated. Values carry little weight unless they are tied to measurable activities and behaviours.
What are Values?
Values how you are or want to be. They are not something you do, although they do our shape behaviour. The following questions will help values to surface:
· what is important to you?
· what do you believe in?
· what behaviours do you value?
Why are values the bedrock of Community Independent activity?
Like any group of people, a set of team values will bind everyone together, assist with setting behaviours and provide guidance for reflecting on action and performance.
Suggestion
Values are the foundational component of all Community Independent teams. All teams are encouraged to find a facilitator and explore and do the work on values. CIP can assist you further if you need a tips sheet.
Team Purpose
What is purpose?
A team purpose statement is a short statement that describes a team's reason for existing. It explains how the team is unique, and why what they do is important. A team purpose statement should therefore describe what the team does.
Why define the team’s purpose?
By defining a team’s purpose, the team members form a clearer picture of why they are involved in the team activity. From this clearer picture team members will be able to establish roles that members will need to undertake to fulfil the team’s purpose.
Additionally, a team purpose communicates to the wider community what the group will be doing and the impact it will make.
The questions to assist include:
a. What is our job?
b. What is not our job?
c. Who do we “work” for?
d. What impact do we what to create?
e. Why are we undertaking this action?
f. What action will we not undertake?
Suggestion
Developing a team purpose clearly communicates to the community what you are doing and why. Investing time in working on your purpose will help with any action prior, during and after an election campaign. Teams are encouraged to find a facilitator and develop a purpose statement. CIP can assist you further if you need a tips sheet.
Team Norms
What are norms?
The word “norm” generally refers to something that is usual, typical, standard, or expected. In the context of teams, norms are agreed definitions of productive behaviours and mindsets that should be usual, or “the norm,” whenever a team is working together. Norms that are explicit and visible to the entire team can provide a framework for addressing behaviour that might be distracting from the purpose of the team.
Why do norms matter?
Having a clear set of norms can build trust amongst the team by making sure everyone feels they will be contributing. In the stages of team development norming is the third stage. Constructively working on and setting the teams norms allows the team to progress to performance. Setting the teams norms is a continuation of the behaviours thinking done when a team decides on its team values.
Suggestion
Setting norms solidifies the rules of behaviour for all team members. Through developing norms your team will not only have guide rails. It will have, in combination with the team values, concrete concepts for reflection, evaluation and celebration. CIP can assist you further if you need a tips sheet.
A Community Independent Story - Team Yellow, Benambra
In 2016 a team of 12 people came together to commence the process of electing a community independent MP in the Victorian state electorate of Benambra. This is now a familiar story across electorates, both state and federal.
The first task was a values clarification exercise with the the team coming up with a list of values through a facilitated process. The final part of the exercise was for each team member to share with the whole team that they would commit to the values, and specifically how the values would guide their involvement in the 2018 state election campaign.
The list of values was hand-written on a large sheet of paper and displayed at each meeting and eventually hung in the front entrance of the campaign office. Each meeting the chair would remind everyone of the values and throughout the campaign the team would acknowledge the use of a particular value and celebrate successes when the values were clearly on display during the campaign.
During the 2022 state campaign these values were considered at the first meeting. The team pondered - did we still see them as relevant, what did the words mean to us, why had they been useful as guideposts during the 2018 election campaign, and would we be happy as a slightly different team to continue to operate under these values? A group agreement was reached, and once more the shared values were displayed and discussed through the campaign.
There was considerably more on the line for Team Yellow in the 2022 campaign. A bigger team, triple the number of volunteers, more money and a candidate (and team) who were determined to win. Our values were an essential part of holding us all together.
Volunteering on a polling booth (pre-poll or election day) can test the most Zen volunteers. It was no different in Benambra in 2022. One day on pre-poll another candidate abused our candidate, Jacqui Hawkins. After the initial “really” moment, Jacqui employed many of the team values – she remained respectful by listening but calmly responding, she showed her integrity by remaining on brand. The daily debrief focused on those specific values with the co-campaign managers standing next to our displayed values sheet at the offices working our way through the list. The only value that wasn’t ticked during this campaign moment was fun.
The following day and for the remainder of the campaign, we briefed all our volunteers about the values being part of Jacqui’s brand and how we were the community’s touch point with Jacqui, so it was important to demonstrate behaviours that reflected our team values. Everyone understood the logic and only one volunteer had to be reminded when a subsequent unpleasant interaction occurred.
At a strategic level, our values were the cornerstone of our purpose. The empowerment allowed us to understand community politics being done at a state level. The value of empowerment was constantly highlighted when we discussed the “what are we doing, why are we doing this work? Yes, we were determined to win, which we didn’t, but to deliver on our purpose we needed to empower the community.
The values identified in 2016 provided us with the foundations to articulate our purpose for the 2018 and 2022 election campaigns, and assisted us to develop norms or guideposts for the entire six years of work.